Daybreak
by Lady Sanna
Summary: Of the many obstacles that he had to face in his career, her eyes were one of the most difficult to overcome. Maybe Holman was right, maybe he did gaze at her without knowing it. Oneshot. MSR.


A/N  
I had intended to post a fic for Valentine's Day, but my muse had temporarily left me. It took me forever to come up with something good and reasonable, but unfortunately, I wasn't able to post on February 14. So, here's a fic that I hope will make up for it. By the way, this won't be solely for Valentine's, because I want it to be an all occasion kind of fic.

Also, I had taken the character of Mulder's assistant from Chris Carter, but the actor who was chosen to play it was a complete idiot, so those scenes were cut and the episodes aired without the appearance of Mulder's own secretary. Good thing too.  
Anyway, I hope you enjoy reading this as much as I had writing it.

---

Daybreak  
Lady Sanna

Scully had been gone for a week now. She had been assigned to another agent, temporarily, to work on a case to voice her scientific opinion. Mulder, on the other hand, was assigned an assistant, a rather annoying secretary who made unnecessary jokes. His secretary would one day hand him papers saying, "Here are your files, Agent Mulder," then making a crack like, "Or rather X-Files!" and laugh hysterically. Mulder had the most uneasy feeling all week because of his sorry excuse for an assistant and he hoped that Scully would return soon to reinstate her so-called replacement.

Lying on his trusty couch in the dark of his apartment with his arms supporting his head, he waited for the call from his partner. She had said that she would be back by Friday evening and according to his calendar, she was one day late. It was late afternoon Saturday. Sighing, he checked his watch once more and got up to get a drink, knowing full well that he needed to restock his fridge soon considering the fact that the only thing in his fridge was orange juice.

He stared at the carton, discouraged. Why was it always orange juice that was the last one left? This must be a conspiracy, he thought. A few chuckles left his lips when he realized that maybe he was actually starting to go insane. With a swift motion, he took it and chugged it down, then threw it away in the trash.

Great, now that that was finished, what else was he supposed to do?

---

Scully turned on the bright, fluorescent lamp above the body to be autopsied and instantly, the room was lit up with an eerie, light blue glow. The victim before her was hit by a car going 60 mph and then was hit again by another car that didn't see him. He had deliberately jumped in front of the speeding car in an act of committing suicide after being found out that he had murdered his ex-girlfriend. He was only 18 years old.

This saddened her, thinking that he had so much going for him and yet he threw it all away because of his unrequited love. But according to the case report, it was much more than that which was why she was needed on this case and not Mulder. It was a murder-suicide case with a little bit of a spin on it, but not so much as to call in a supernatural expert.

Thinking of her partner now made her heart sink lower. She hadn't seen him in a week now and she was planning to return by Friday, but unfortunately, she had to tie up some loose ends for the agent she was working with. The agent she was assigned to was a stuck-up woman who commanded everyone to do her dirty work for her. All she did was fill up the case report and nothing else. It was a pain to work alongside someone so full of herself and it made her miss working with Mulder even more.

Yes, she admitted it, she missed working on the X-Files with her partner that she considered a genius. People thought of him as an obsessive workaholic that solely lived to find evidence of extraterrestrial life. Well, actually, they were partly right, but she knew that he was much more than that. His passion for the X-Files was what attracted her to him. That fire that burned so deeply in the depths of his mind was what drew her to him in the first place; it was what kept her down in the basement with him.

Scully shook her thoughts away, remembering that she needed to finish her autopsy so that she would be able to return home sooner. Her plans were to jump on the next plane to DC right after she had turned in her findings to that so-called partner. Quickly, she grabbed her scalpel and started.

---

Mulder yawned from boredom as he twirled his basketball into the air repeatedly. It was the only thing that would keep his mind off of the absence of his partner. He missed hearing her rational theories that countered his own. He missed hearing the click of her heels down the hallway and he missed how she always gave him 'that' look. He felt a shiver travel down his spine just at the thought of her looking at him with those striking blue eyes of hers. Of the many obstacles that he had to face in his career, her eyes were one of the most difficult to overcome. Maybe Holman was right, maybe he did gaze at her without knowing it.

With one last throw up into the air, he caught it as it descended back towards him and then threw it into the corner. It crashed into whatever else was thrown therecreating a loud noise that could be heard by the apartment below. The resident that lived there apparently had enough of the racket that his neighbor made and took his broom and started banging the ceiling with the stick end.

"Keep it quiet up there will ya!" The old man grumbled and then went about his business, swearing to himself that the next time he heard a noise like that, he would go up there himself and take it up with his neighbor face to face.

Mulder ignored him and flipped on the tv. The glow of the screen filled up the room and cast shadows on the walls. He propped his feet up on the coffee table and relaxed against the back of his couch. Subconsciously, he changed through the channels without really being aware of what was on. He just couldn't think of anything else. She was the other half of him and without her, he had an empty void that tortured him.

For a week, he had been like this and honestly, he didn't know how he survived.

---

As Scully cut incisions here and there, she thought about how their relationship had transformed significantly over the past seven years. They were strangers, partners, friends, then secret lovers. The thought of them being a couple made her feel that sense of warmness once again. She was involved with one of the most sought after agents in the FBI. He was the subject of many conversations that took place between the female agents. She would know, because she had been involved in one of them.

2 WEEKS EARLIER

The FBI women's restroom was always filled with the latest gossip and news. It was definitely not a place for _tête-à-tête _and unfortunately, Scully was caught in the clutches of one of the biggest gossips of all time.

Just as she had finished checking her appearance in the mirror, Agent Claire Irving stopped her before she could leave.

"Agent Scully! Just the woman I was looking for." She smiled an evil grin.

Scully stopped in her tracks and uneasily turned around with a tight smirk on her lips. "Agent Irving," she replied.

"The girls and I were debating on a subject that I thought might be of interest to you."

Scully prayed that it was about something other than Mulder.

"It's about Agent Mulder." The women let out a few giggles at the sound of his name.

She cursed in her head and inwardly groaned. It was _always_ about Agent Mulder. No matter where she went, it was Agent Mulder this, Agent Mulder that. Unless it was actually important or if she was actually talking to him then she would care, but this she couldn't handle.

"What about Agent Mulder?" she asked, trying to sound interested.

"Well, what is your opinion on him? I'd very much like to hear your thoughts on this matter, since you _do_ work with him almost every single day."

Scully felt like she was back in high school with all eyes on her. Clearing her throat, she began slowly, thinking to pick her words carefully so that they wouldn't jump to any conclusions but that they were equal partners and/or good friends.

"In my opinion... I would say that Agent Mulder is a man of great intelligence and passion. He's always thinking of others first and he puts every effort and strength into his work. He's always risked his life for others, as well as for myself, and he's definitely proved himself the opposite of what everyone thinks of him."

She could've gone on and on, but she could tell by the look on their faces that they were already starting to think of new topics for their gossip circles. Luckily, they didn't have enough to start stories that could damage their reputations even more. Working on the X-Files was hard enough.

"..Oh," was all Claire said afterwards with a look that told Scully that she obviously wanted to know more than that. She wanted to know something deep, secret, and probably dirty.

Agent Irving then gave her a small nod and awkwardly thanked her, then she returned back to her group. Once Scully was out of the bathroom, she let out a deep breath and rolled her eyes. If only they knew, she thought.

PRESENT DAY

Scully laughed on the inside. If they knew that she and Mulder were 'together', she was sure that she would probably be one of the most loathed agents among the females who worked at the FBI. But of course, protocol had to be kept.

Finishing up, she rolled the sheet back up to the victim's head and took off her gloves, goggles, and lab coat. Quickly, she discarded the autopsy scalpels and whatnot into the biohazard box, wrote her report, and headed out the door to drop off the file at the precinct.

She was finally going to be able to go back to DC.

---

Mulder decided to turn in for the night. He had waited until a little after midnight for Scully's call, but it never came. He tried calling her, but she never picked up her cell phone. She was probably too busy, he thought. He wanted to just jump on the next plane to make sure she was okay, but he knew that she would be able to take care of herself. She always told him that and somehow, it never really connected with him.

As he lay in bed, he yearned to hear her voice and to touch her smooth skin that he hungered for every night. To hold her in his arms meant the world to him. To wake up with her was like a breath of fresh air and being able to run his fingers through her hair while making sweet love to her was a miracle in itself.

God, how he missed her.

---

It was early morning. The sun had just come up over the horizon, the rays splayed out in the morning sky. The birds started to chirp in the silence and the wind rustled the leaves of the trees, creating an even more serene atmosphere.

Scully took all of this in for a few minutes then headed up the apartment complex quietly. She was finally back from New Jersey and she was overjoyed to be back where she belonged. She unlocked the door and closed it carefully. Soundlessly, she made her way to the bedroom, shed her clothes and climbed into the bed.

---

Mulder stirred when he felt something warm against him. He breathed in sharply and blinked a few times, realizing that it was morning. His eyes then traveled down only to see what he had longed for all week. Her body was wrapped around him and her head was buried in his chest, eyes closed. Within seconds, he could feel this weight lifted off of his shoulders and he was once again whole.

With a timid hand, he moved an errant lock of hair from her face and stared at her beauty. She was the only thing that could make him truly happy. Scully sensed this and slowly opened her eyes once more to look up at him. He gave her a lazy smile as his finger lightly traced her jaw. She returned the gesture by sweetly placing her lips on his in a long awaited kiss.

Shortly after, she pulled away. "Good morning," she whispered, breaking the silence between them.

"Oh, you don't know how good a morning it is," he replied with a light chuckle.

Scully smiled at his remark. She had missed hearing his deep voice that always talked about unexplainable theories, but that morning, it was a little different. It was calm and without the stress that he had carried on his shoulders for so long. It brought a comfort to her; a sense of familiarity.

Mulder gazed into her captivating eyes and he could feel himself closing the space in between them. He caught her lips once more in a passionate kiss as his arm traveled down to her waist and hugged her body closer to his. She responded affectionately, her hand running through his thick brown hair. It was a reunion they both needed.

And just as the sun kept on rising, Mulder and Scully spent the rest of the morning resting with their arms encircled around the other, while holding onto the sweet memory of daybreak.

---

CASE CLOSED: FEBRUARY 19, 2006

The X-Files and its characters © 1013 Productions, Chris Carter, and FOX


End file.
